Teenage boy goes blind after eating nothing but junk food
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Junk food is convenient and addictive, but eating too much of it is known to have negative effects on your health. A teenage boy in England who ate only junk food for many years has been reported to have gone blind.
Blindness Caused by a Junk Food Diet | Annals of Internal Medicine | American College of Physicians
https://annals.org/aim/article-abstract/2749497/blindness-caused-junk-food-diet
Teen's Junk Food Diet Caused Him to Go Blind, Doctors Say | Live Science
https://www.livescience.com/teen-fussy-eater-vision-loss.html
How poor diet can lead to blindness
https://theconversation.com/how-poor-diet-can-can-lead-to-blindness-122812
A teenage boy in England reportedly went to his doctor at age 14 complaining of fatigue. The boy was reported to have a nervous personality, and blood tests at the time revealed anemia and
Eventually, when the boy turned 15, he began to lose his hearing, and his eyesight rapidly deteriorated. Even after consultations with an ear, nose, and throat specialist and an ophthalmologist, the cause of his hearing loss and vision loss remained unknown, and by the age of 17, his vision had deteriorated to 0.1, even with correction. In the United States, a person is considered 'legally blind' if their corrected vision falls below 0.1, which causes significant impairment in their daily lives.
The boy then visited Bristol Eye Hospital , where doctors diagnosed him with optic neuropathy. Further tests confirmed that he had deficiencies in nutrients such as vitamin B12, vitamin D, copper, and selenium, and that he also had low bone density. When doctors asked about the boy's diet, they found that he had only eaten junk food since elementary school, including french fries, potato chips, white bread, sliced ham, and sausages.
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Despite his extreme dietary habits, the boy had a normal body mass index (BMI) and was of average height and weight for a teenage boy. He also did not drink alcohol, smoke, or use drugs. The boy's vision loss was diagnosed as optic nerve damage caused by pure nutritional deficiency. While vision loss due to nutritional deficiencies can be caused by drug, dietary deficiency, or alcohol abuse, 'it is rare for this to be caused purely by diet in developed countries,' the researchers wrote.
'Optic neuropathy caused by nutritional deficiency can sometimes lead to vision recovery if detected early, but in the boy's case, the diagnosis was delayed, and even with nutritional support, vision loss was only halted, not reversed. 'Vision loss caused by optic neuropathy cannot be corrected with lenses, so the boy's vision will not improve,' said Dr Denize Atan of Bristol Eye Hospital.
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